free & content

I draw on my natural interest in my family’s eclectic collections – both traditional and personal – to create poetic portraits composed of carefully made and arranged objects. The goal of my portraiture is not to convey physical likeness; superseding the imitation of appearance is psychological portrayal of the desires and disappointments of the sitter. Often, a fragmented sense of self is revealed – both in others and in myself – and I seek to depict the kaleidoscopic nature of individuals in their given situations. Possessing whimsical, playful elements as well as encounters with lack and longing, I create work to escape what in my life is unbearable as well as to finally embrace that which I cannot possibly escape

Effects of drought stress on some agronomic and morphological traits of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) landraces under greenhouse condition

Although, drought stress has been well documented as an effective parameter in decreasing crop production; developing and releasing new varieties which are adaptable to water deficit conditions can be a constructive program to overcome unsuitable environmental conditions. The present study was carried out to study the effect of drought stress under greenhouse conditions in Islamic Azad University of Ardabil Branch, Iran. The agronomic and morphological traits of 25 durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) genotypes were investigated. The present study was done based on randomized complete block design with three replications in drought stress and normal irrigation conditions in a greenhouse. The analysis of variance has indicated that there are significant differences among the genotypes in all the traits, which indicate that there are great variations among genotypes in order to use in improvement plans. Analysis of variance shows that drought stress has a significant effect on all studied traits except harvest index. The comparison of means indicated that the genotypes; poldash, sari boghda and germi in normal condition and sari boghda, omrabi-5, langan, germi and germi under stress condition, are the superior groups. Grain yield has shown a positive and significant correlation with peduncle length, number of grains per spike, 1000 grain weight, biological yield and harvest index. Cluster analysis divides the genotypes into three groups in each condition. The best genotypes were included in a group which confirms the results of the compared means yield.Key words: Agronomic traits, durum wheat, genetic diversity, yield components

EVALUATION OF MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF WHEAT GENOTYPES AGAINST DROUGHT STRESS IN PRESENCE OF A LEONARDITE DERIVED HUMIC FERTILIZER UNDER GREENHOUSE CONDITION

ABSTRACT The present study was carried out for evaluation response of 12 bread wheat genotypes to a liquid humic fertilizer based on Leonardite against terminal drought stress. Analysis of variance of data showed that there was considerable variability among genotypes in all of the studied traits except of maximum total fluorescence value (Fm), which demonstrate the presence of genetic diversity among wheat genotypes. Irrigation mean squares were also significant for all the studied traits except of Fv/Fm, total tillers, fertile tillers, plant height and spike length showing that the water stress has significant effect on traits. Irrigation and Leonardite interaction was significant for Fv/Fm, Fm, fertile tillers and plant height, non-significant irrigation and leonardite interaction for another traits it could be indicated that used potassium humate in this study has no effect on these traits in normal and drought stress conditions. As result, it concluded that in our experimental conditions, grain yield of wheat genotypes was reduced under drought stress condition. But fluorescence parameter increased in drought stress condition and humic fertilizer didn't affect genotypes. Genotype MV17/zrn produced the highest biological yield, spike weight, spike length, number of grain per spike and grain yield. Therefore, Genotype MV17/zrn performed better than others

Investigating speech tempo, speaking rate, and the related factors in the iranian elderly women talking with tehrani and semnani accents

Background: Some variables, such as age, gender, regional and dialectical differences influence speech tempo. Men and younger individuals speak faster than women and the elderly. Therefore, these variations should be considered when assessing speaking rate. Objectives: Since different accents influence speaking rates and there is no previous study investigated speech tempo with respect to regional and accent differences in Iran, and given that the elderly are more prone to problems influencing speaking rate, the present study was done to compare speech tempo and speaking rate in two different accents, namely Tehrani and Semnani, and to investigate some related factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 200 elderly women selected via convenience sampling method. Speech tempo, speaking rate, verbal fluency, and cognition scores were compared using an independent-samples t-test. Pearson�s correlation coefficient test was used to assess correlations between speaking rate and level of education, Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA), and verbal fluency scores. Results: No significant difference was found in speech tempo between the studied accents (P = 0.13). Speaking rate was significantly slower in the Tehrani accent than the Semnani one (P = 0.04). The Tehrani elderly obtained significantly less scores in verbal fluency and MoCA ((P � 0.001) and (P = 0.04), respectively. In both groups, speaking rate had a significant correlation with verbal fluency and MoCA scores but not with level of education. Conclusions: Although, our results showed no difference in speech tempo between the studied accents, the Tehrani elderly unexpectedly spoke more slowly meaning that they paused more while speaking. There was a relationship between faster speaking, better verbal fluency, and cognitive performance. © 2021, Author(s)

The effect of the eye movement desensitization and reprocessing intervention on anxiety and depression among patients undergoing hemodialysis: A randomized controlled trial

Author's accepted version (postprint).This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Wiley in Perspectives in psychiatric care on 29/04/2019.Available online: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ppc.12389acceptedVersio

A comparative study of dynamic and static balance status in childern with specific learning diability and normal childern

Introduction: Balance is one of the important principles of learning in children, and impaired balance can affect learning. This study was conducted to compare the balance status of children with specific learning disability with that of the normal children. The results are to be used to help rehabilitate such children properly. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all students with specific learning disorder who were qualified for our study in Semnan (58 students) and the same number of students without a specific learning disorder were examined as control group. In order to choose the children in control group, three schools of children without learning disorders were selected by convenience method and 58 students were selected by simple random sampling. The balance test was administered using Biodex balance system (D3) and observing the test requirements. Results: In open-eye state, dynamic balance index, a significant difference was observed between students with learning disorder and normal students in their total balance (p=0.015), posterior-anterior (p=0.025) and lateral (p=0.026). However, these parameters were not significantly different in both groups (p>0.05) in close-eye state and also the static balance index in open-eye and close-eye states. Conclusion: The research results indicated that dynamic balance was impaired in students with specific learning disability with the eyes opened. It is necessary that therapists and parents take the matter into account. It is also necessary to perform interventions to improve the dynamic balance. © 2017, Semnan University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Quality of life among parents of preterm infants: a scoping review

Purpose: To synthesize the body of knowledge on the factors influencing the QoL of mothers and fathers of preterm infants. Methods: A scoping review was performed. Publications indexed in PubMed®, Web of Science™, CINAHL® and PsycINFO® were searched, targeting studies presenting original empirical data that examined parental perception on QoL after a preterm delivery. Eligibility and data extraction were conducted by two independent researchers. The main quantitative findings were synthesized and qualitative data were explored by content analysis. Results: The studies, 11 quantitative and 1 mixed methods, were derived mainly from the USA (n = 6). Heterogeneity across the studies was observed regarding the operationalization of QoL and the use of units of analysis (mothers, parents, families and caregivers). In a context where 40 out of 45 covariates were analysed by only one or two studies, results suggested that parental QoL after a preterm delivery is influenced by factors related with mother’s characteristics, family issues and health care environment rather than infants’ variables. Factors regarding fathers’ characteristics and structural levels were not addressed. Conclusions: Standardizing the operationalization of the QoL when analysing mothers and fathers of preterm infants calls for a structured questionnaire adapted to their specific needs. Further research should include both mothers and fathers, invest in mixed methods approaches and be performed in different countries and settings for allowing integration and comparison of findings.This work was supported by FEDER funding from the Operational Programme Factors of Competitiveness—COMPETE and by national funding from the Foundation for Science and Technology—FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education) under the project “Parenting roles and knowledge in Neonatal Intensive Care Units” (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-019902; Ref. FCT PTDC/CS-ECS/120750/2010) and the Unidade de Investigação em Epidemiologia—Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (EPIUnit) (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006862; Ref. UID/DTP/04750/2013); the grants PD/BD/105830/2014 (to MA), SFRH/BPD/103562/2014 (to EA), co-funded by the FCT and the POPH/FSE Program and the FCT Investigator contract IF/01674/2015 (to SS)

A M Reinhorn. Compensation of actuator delay and dynamics for real-time hybrid structural simulation. Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics

Abstract Compensation of delay and dynamic response of servo-hydraulic actuator is critical to the stability and accuracy of hybrid experimental and numerical simulations of the seismic response of structures. In this study, current procedures for compensation of actuator delay are examined and improved procedures are proposed. The proposed procedures need little or no a priori information about the behavior of the test specimen. In addition, a simple approach is introduced for online estimation of system delay and actuator command gain, thus eliminating the need for system calibration before a simulation. The effectiveness of these compensation procedures is verified analytically, numerically and experimentally. Energy error measures resulting from actuator tracking errors are compared to the overall energy input from the excitation. The reduction in added artificial energy due to experimental errors is used to demonstrate the improved accuracy in the simulation obtained from using the proposed procedures. An extrapolation procedure, alternative to the widely-used polynomial extrapolation in fast hybrid testing is proposed based on the same numerical integration procedures used to solve the equation of motion. This procedure is shown to result in smaller amplitude and phase errors

Practical exponential stability and closeness of solutions for singularly perturbed systems via averaging

This paper studies the behavior of singularly perturbed nonlinear differential equations with boundary-layer solutions that do not necessarily converge to an equilibrium. Using the average for the derivative of the slow state variables and assuming the boundary-layer solutions converge exponentially fast to a bounded set, which is possibly parameterized by the slow variable, results on the closeness of solutions of the singularly perturbed system to the solutions of the reduced average and boundary-layer systems over a finite time interval are presented. The closeness of solution error is shown to be of order O(ε) where ε is the perturbation parameter. Moreover, under the additional assumption of exponential stability of the reduced average system, practical exponential stability of the solutions of the singularly perturbed system is provided